


ice and knee brace

by zora (nico_neo)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Argentina, Car Accidents, Developing Relationship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, It's Hard and Nobody Understands, M/M, Overthinking, Permanent Injury, Pro Volleyball Player Oikawa Tooru, Relationship Study, Scars, Sort of? - Freeform, except oikawa, kuroo week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2020-08-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26028598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nico_neo/pseuds/zora
Summary: Becoming a pro volleyball player, that sounded great. He would have liked that.But, every good thing had to come to an end, right?
Relationships: Kuroo Tetsurou/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50
Collections: Kuroo Week 2020





	ice and knee brace

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am this time with... Oikuro! Hehe
> 
> I don’t have a lot of things to say about this one hmmm except that it’s shorter than what I usually do 🤔
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this one! It’s different? From what I usually do? I dunno haha I tried to focus on the fact that it’s not because you have visible wounds that you don’t have ones you can’t see ;)
> 
> This piece is for Kuroo week, day 5 and I used the prompt : wounds/scars 
> 
> Enjoy! <3

Kuroo had plans after high school. He had planned to go to university, major in business or in science - he chose business. But, mostly, he had planned to continue volleyball. Get on the university team and, if he dared dream big, keep on playing even after that. Maybe go pro. Becoming a pro volleyball player, that sounded good. He would have liked that. He would have dropped his studies if it meant he could have continued to play after university. He was doing great in the university team. He already felt good, that he was in good form during high school. But he felt even better at university.

But, every good thing had to come to an end, right?

And it did.

“Are you alright?” 

Kuroo snapped out of his trance to look at the owner of the voice. Oikawa was in the doorway of the living room, seemingly coming back from practice, considering the duffel bag slumped over his shoulder. Tetsurou unconsciously rubbed a hand against his right knee.

“Yeah, I’m okay. Just lost in thoughts.”

Tooru hummed. He glanced at the dark haired one last time before moving to the bedroom. “Don’t get too lost in your head.”

“I’ll try.”

He had moved out of Japan after the accident. He graduated from university, business degree in hand, and when Oikawa mentioned he was trying Argentina, Kuroo simply followed. Dropped everything and tracked with his friend. Who gradually became his boyfriend. Well, they didn’t name it, but that’s what it looked like. Friends with benefits maybe? Not really exclusive but always coming back to one another at the end of the day.

Maybe he got something nice out of it, at least. One thing dear ripped out of him but another one healing it. 

It’s been two years.

Oikawa came back from the bedroom, in fresh clothes, meaning he had surely taken a shower at the gym. Otherwise, Tetsurou would have heard the sound of the water running. He stopped in front of Kuroo, and offered his hands, waiting for him to take them. Tetsurou did, and Tooru held it tight when he stood up, supporting his weight. It still hurt sometimes, mostly when he was standing up after more than ten minutes seated. Or when he was walking for too long. Occasionally, it hurts even before he wakes up. If it was a physical or psychical pain, he didn’t really know. Probably both. 

Tooru’s hands - calloused, yet soft - grounded him before he could get lost in his head again, and so softly, staying close just in case, led him to their bedroom. 

The bedroom, after practice and dinner, meant two things. Either they were going to have sex - before, it was quick, rough, just to appease their needs, but now it was softer, more tender, slower too. Kuroo liked it, he felt like he was making love to Tooru. And maybe Tooru felt the same. Or, second option, and one that always came after the first one anyway, Tooru was going to take care of his knee. Put some ice, make him do some exercises and then put on his knee brace, similar to the one he had back in high school. Except that Tooru’s knee healed. Tetsurou’s didn't.

He just had to be in his car, on his way back to university after a weekend at his dad’s, when the truck didn’t stop at the red light. Rupture of his anterior cruciate ligament. Nothing to do. He went through surgery, his torn ligament has been removed and has been replaced by a piece of tendon, from another part of his knee. He could have lived like that, continued volleyball with extra care. But he couldn’t. His knee gave up and the graft was a failure. The only reminder for Tetsurou that his knee was once a high functioning one, was the scar running up and down the skin of said knee, on his kneecap. 

Kuroo felt lips on his, and hands on his cheeks. Only then did he notice he was sitting at the edge of the double bed, and that Tooru was in front of him, face and smile always so soft but eyes worried. He caressed Tetsurou’s cheek with his thumb when Kuroo’s gaze finally settled on him. 

“Don’t get lost in your head,” he whispered, soft and gentle. Like he always was with Kuroo. Always caring. Like Tetsurou was some fragile porcelain vase that could break at any harsh gesture. It unnerved Kuroo. But it was misplaced anger, because if Tooru wasn’t there, he would have gotten lost in his own open wounds. Oikawa was the anchor preventing him from drowning and the patch healing his wounds. Kuroo was grateful he had Oikawa. Kuroo loved Oikawa, probably. “Stay with me.”

He nodded. And when Tooru kissed him again, he kissed back, gripping on the other’s shirt.

“Does it hurt?” the volleyball player asked.

“A little,” Tetsurou muttered. “It’s bearable, for now.”

Oikawa nodded, grazed his cheekbones one more time and stood up, fetching the aid kit they kept in the wardrobe, Kuroo’s knee brace was in it. “I’ll get the ice pack, alright? I’ll be quick.”

And indeed, he was quick. But Kuroo’s gaze had unfocused again, so he didn’t really know. It’s his hand on the inside of his thigh, complete contrast to the cold spreading on his right knee, that made him focus on Tooru again. They stayed silent, Tooru’s thumb rubbing the inside of his thigh, one of Kuroo’s hand drawing abstract patterns on his slender yet slightly crooked fingers and waiting for the ice to stop the strain of pain running through his knee.

When the ice pack started to melt, Tooru pushed it away and he stopped. Eyes looking at Tetsurou’s scar. He grazed his fingers over it, afraid to touch and hurt him, probably. He pressed a kiss to his patella, where the middle and uglier part of the scar was. Kuroo watched him. The warmth of Oikawa’s lips dissimilar from the coldness of the mutilated flesh. He wasn’t repulsed. If so, it’s maybe the part of Kuroo’s body the other gave the most attention to. Kisses, caresses, delicate looks. A look Tetsurou couldn’t give to this particular area. He could only give it anger, disdain, hurt. Everything Oikawa couldn’t give, and that Kuroo didn’t understand. But it was okay. 

Tooru could love his wounds and scars when Tetsurou couldn’t. Tooru could be patient when Tetsurou wasn’t, when his body gave up and his mind was quick to follow. Tooru never left. Tooru wanted him to stay. To come back to him, even when his mind was taking him away. 

“Does it still hurt?” he asked.

Kuroo shook his head no. It wasn’t hurting as much when he was with Oikawa. 

“Let’s do some heel slides before I put the brace on, alright?”

Tetsurou pushed himself on his hands, further and closer to the middle of the clean bed rather than the edge. He lied down as Tooru kneeled at the level of his feet. He snaked a hand at the back of Kuroo’s ankle as the other rested on his shinbone.

“Ready,” Kuroo said. Oikawa started pushing, sliding his heel towards his buttocks, the ball of his foot firmly pressed against the mattress. His knee started to bend, and Tooru continued sliding his heel backwards. Until it became too uncomfortable. “Stop.”

Oikawa counted to six, then made his heel slide back down until his leg was straight against the mattress, once more. They repeated the gesture three other times. 

Tooru slid the knee brace on and looked at him again. Tetsurou raised himself up and opened his legs a little wider, so Tooru was in between them, still kneeling. Kuroo brushed his face with the tip of his fingers. He cupped his cheek. Tetsurou kissed him, his other hand resting on Oikawa’s waist. Oikawa kissed him back, wrapping his arms around Kuroo’s neck as they slowly and carefully fell backwards. Tooru didn’t kiss him back hurriedly so they could undress each other and start fucking, this time. This time, Tooru kissed him back slowly, like they had all the time in the world. He breathed in him just like Kuroo breathed in him. Felt him under his mouth and fingers. And when they pulled apart and Tetsurou’s gaze remained fixed on Oikawa’s, seeing him, he thought.

Maybe Tooru loved him too.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading ! \o/
> 
> Comments and kudos are my serotonin boost!
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/bokutowantsyou)   
>  [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.qa/bokutowantsyou)   
> 


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